Guess Who's Back? - The Slimming Shady

Yes, let's all be embarrassed for the title. I couldn't resist ;)

If anyone is actually reading this, hellooooo. I hope you're all keeping well. I realise it's been about 3 months since I last posted, but I have had a request from the lovely @VanzTheMachine on Twitter. And even though I did say I might not post again, I thought 'hey, why not?' Plus I could do with the whole group support thing, as today I'll be discussing (if you hadn't guessed from my genuinely shameful title)...

Healthy eating and exercise. YAY! Everyone's fav ;)

To quickly catch everyone up to speed, about 2/3 years ago I lost 4 stone. 'Oh' you're thinking 'we've got ourselves an expert, a veteran even'. No, no you don't. Well in terms of weightloss, yep... Wasn't so good at keeping it off though. Maybe I'll explain why one day, but today is not then.

So here I am for round 2 (and by 2 I mean 2 succesful rounds, out of about 9000 non-succesful ones). In the last 5 weeks I have lost 12lbs, which even I gave myself a little pat on the back for.

In this post I'm just going to give 5 simple tips to get you started. If it's popular, I'd love to do a whole little series on it :) And if that's popular I might re-ignite the beauty blogger in me, goodness only knows she's begging to be unleashed.

Rambling.

Sorry. Let me just quickly add that I'm not a nutritionist or health expert, these are literally just my opinions and experiences. So without further ado...

My Top 5 Healthy Weight Loss Tips:

1. Water - I know, you've heard a trillion times how much water you should drink. Believe me, I was a squash drinker, even dabbling in the occasional diet coke. And alcohol is just a whole other level. I'm not saying completely cut them out, but they should all be rare treats. I've taken to carrying a water bottle around with me everywhere (note; don't bother taking them to concerts, you'll just end up yelling at doormen when they take it off you). Sipping water consistently throughout the day keeps you hydrated, flushes out toxins and gives you something to put in your mouth that isn't food. I won't say it fills you up, personally I think that only lasts for half an hour before you're chomping at the bit if you're actually hungry. But, it does actually make your skin clearer. I thought that was an urban myth egged on by Hollywood's crazy raw food eating, yoga ladies. Turns out it's actually true, so get yourself a bottle and start sipping.

2. Calorie Counting - I can literally feel the disgust in your faces. Calorie counting is certainly NOT essential for weight loss. I didn't do it last time and still did really well. I also hasten to add that becoming obsessed with calories makes you a massive bore and quite frankly life's too short. However, I've been doing the Biggest Loser online club (the UK version, I'm sure other countries have their own) and that's had me eating 1200 calories a day and inputting what I eat in to an online diary. It does sound a little crazy, and if you're just trying to be healthier it's probably not for you, but let me just get it out there that I LOVE IT! For education alone, it's been invaluable. For example there was me thinking, 'I'll just chuck a tablespoon of olive oil on my salad, it's good for you'. I don't doubt that it is, but now I know there's approximately 121 calories in that, I think twice. It had never crossed my mind before. So instead of calorie counting as such, which I personally think is a little soul destroying, I think calorie awareness is essential. Once you are familiar with calories you can make healthy choices without whacking your calculator out at dinner like a compulsive, mathmatically challenged weirdo.

3. Exercise - Ladies, it's time to purchase a sports bra. Get out your baggy band t-shirts and trakkie b's previously reserved for days of watching 'Man V Food' and 'Britain's Got Talent', don't even try and tell me you haven't. The fact of the matter is that weightloss is like maths, unfortunately, you have to burn off more than you intake to lose weight. Your body needs those 1200 calories to function, any less than that your body will store food when you eat again. So to shift the excess pounds you've got to shift your arses. You're going to have to trust me that a good quantity of my brain is saying 'lay down, have a Dominos', but you've got to get your inner ninja to beat that thought away. There are a LOT of forms of really great exercises, my rule is basically if you're panting and sweating then you're winning. Dvd's like 'Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred' and Davina McCall's exercise vids are immense. There's no better compromise for the lazy community than exercising in your living room, staring the sofa in the eye while sweat's pouring in to it and thinking 'this is not a food sweat'. Plus you can do some serious exercise in half an hour, you've just got to be commited. Other exercies I personally enjoy are swimming (no one likes the 'shamu walk of shame', but nobody's looking and if they are accidentally kick them as you swim past), the rowing machine, the stepper, etc. My current weapon of choice is the Davina McCall foldable exercise bike which was like £100 from Argos, folds up, is relatively quiet and parks nicely in front of the telly... 'Man V Food' won't watch itself. I've also taken to walking with my friends which leads me to points 4 and 5...

4. Do it with someone else and 5. Set yourself a challenge - Okay I'm cheating by grouping points, but I don't want Guiness in touch saying I have the record for the longest blog post ever. However, the reason I've taken to walking with friends is that we've signed up to do a 13 mile charity walk in the summer. I mentioned before I'm not good at maths, but let me assure you that is a LONG way. Half a marathon in fact. So as well as getting healthy together we're raising money. More winning ;) Also in terms of having a partner in crime, it's amazing to have someone to whinge to and who understands what you're doing. Me and my best friend have a little healthy competition. If she says she's lost a bit of weight it spurs me on to do the same. Plus if I needed any more motivation, I have a holiday booked for the summer. Nothing says 'start sweating' like the thought of having to be semi-naked on a beach near 5 of your ridiculously good looking friends.

Let me just re-iterate that I'm no expert and these are just my personal tips. If you're planning a drastic change go and see a professional so that you can't sue me. ;)

And one final thing, I'm no super-motivated robot! Post-Lent where I gave up chocolate, crisps, sweets and pizza I'm suffering a slight (cough*huge*) chocolate addicition. I've been swapping out food cals for chocolate, NOT good. Any tips anyone can give me to beat the chocolate craving? What do you guys struggle with? Let's be a team :)
Please comment if you're interested in this sort of post, not of such mammoth content of course.

Good luck if you're getting healthy too.

Til next time,

Livvy.